Definition of "rental unit": bedroom or whole dwelling? (Just Cause Ordinance)?

[stanciyf]

I am in a city with rental laws covered by a "Just Cause Ordinance" meaning landlords need Just Cause to Evict, unless they are exempt from the Ordinance. My question has to do with what constitutes a "rental unit." The Just Cause Ordinance for my city (Oakland, CA) states that landlords who have 3 or fewer rental units and live in one of the units, are exempt from this ordinance. So if a person owns a duplex (two units), and lives in the upstairs unit, but rents out the lower unit not as a whole unit, but rents the 4 bedrooms of the lower flat individually (eg he has 4 rental agreements with 4 tenants, each of whom rents one of the bedrooms in the flat, and then the 4 tenants share the common areas of that lower flat) is this landlord considered to have 2 rental units (the upper and lower flat of the building) or 5 rental units (the flat he lives in, plus the 4 bedrooms he rents out individually)?

[mohammed47]

Rental units are considered any space that is being rented. Just like a space storage unit. The units he is renting are 4 and his living quarters make 5. If you were to have to fight this case in a civil court hearing my money is that you would win. He is exempt from the Just Cause to Evict law.